Next phase of campaign will focus on trust

Posted
Wednesday, February 7, 2018 9:59 am

The News Media Alliance has launched the final ad of the second phase of its Campaign to Support Real News. The new ad puts an exclamation point on the storyline it began in October 2017 with a strong statement: "We Are Real News," and unlike other news "publishers," our high-quality investigative journalists are committed to reporting the truth.

The campaign, which initially launched in March 2017, was created to shine a light on the harm to the public caused by fake news and the importance of real news produced by respected, trusted news organizations employing these journalists.

The latest phase of the campaign, "What is Real News?" focuses on the need for news literacy. Each launch of this phase has included a print newspaper ad, with each message building on the one preceding it. The third and final ad distinguishes real news providers as those who "take our responsibility to report the truth very seriously" and "work tirelessly to uphold our commitment to the truth because at the end of the day, if we don't, no one else will."

The ads have appeared in several Alliance member newspapers representing over 14.25 million print editions (as well as other non-member newspapers) over the last ten months.

"The fact is, our members are the ones who are out there investigating the stories people want to know. Without them, there would be no accountability by public officials," stated Alliance President & CEO, David Chavern. "The sensationalist, unsupported-by-facts 'news' stories you are seeing out there are just noise that detracts from the quality news being delivered by trusted news organizations."

Throughout the campaign, the Alliance has unveiled a variety of resources on its website and social media channels to help the public learn how to distinguish real news from fake, and to take action by supporting real news in the form of subscriptions and donations. To coincide with today's launch, the Alliance is offering new sharable social media graphics that explain common journalism terms and phrases that people often get wrong; and a listicle of the best books on combating fake news.

As this phase of the campaign comes to an end, the Alliance is looking ahead to how the campaign will evolve.

"We will be hosting an event this spring centered around the critical issue of trust in news media," stated Chavern. "With people in positions of power attacking the credibility of respected news media, it is that much more of a challenge for us to have to overcome to help the public know who they can trust. But we are up to the challenge and I believe that ultimately, consumers are smart enough to figure it out."